I was watching one of our young people sing that hymn without the book from memory, now singing the words from heart. My, my. Genesis 43, I have said, I hope and pray this is more than an interesting story. I hope this will be the joy and rejoicing of your heart.

Rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture says that Christ is all and in all. Christ is all in salvation. And so Christ is in all this book, because this book is a book of salvation, God's word, that's why he wrote it. It's a hymn book, we've seen that before, H-I-M book, speaks of Christ. Christ is all the Word. That's His name. The Word was made flesh. He is the Gospel. Christ is the Gospel. The Gospel is the story of Christ, the Lord.

Joseph represents the Savior, the Redeemer, the surety of God's people, God's children, God's elect, sons of Jacob, They're Jews, not outwardly, but inwardly. They're his people. In this story, we have three principal characters. We have Joseph, we have Benjamin, and we have Judah. I told John, it's gonna be hard for me not to dwell on Joseph or Benjamin. But I wanna say something about them, okay?

Christ is all three. Christ is all in it all, Christ is Joseph, Christ is Benjamin, Christ is Judah, okay? Christ is all those gifts represented that they took to the man. I kept emphasizing that, the man. Joseph was Lord on the throne, though his brethren didn't know him. They will, they all will. This is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou had sent. In chapter 45, when Joseph made himself known, he said three times that he was sent. Joseph is the one on the throne. He's equal to Pharaoh. He's Lord over all.

He's glorious in his person, he's glorious on his throne, but his greatest glory was his love, his mercy, his grace, his forgiveness, his forbearance, his long-suffering with, his salvation of his sorry brethren. Boy, isn't he a type of Jesus Christ in every way. Jesus Christ is Lord, equal with the Father, on the throne, glorious on his throne, but came down like Joseph, put in prison, in bondage to rescue, to save, to redeem his brethren who were in bondage. And his greatest glory, our Lord Jesus Christ, his greatest glory is his love, his mercy, his grace, his longsuffering, his salvation of his people. That's the reason he became a man. That's the reason God wrote this book. That's the reason God made the universe. as a tabernacle to display his glorious son. But this is the greatest display of him, right here. This story, what you just read. I got chills up my spine when I was reading it.

Did you? Ah, Joseph. Let's go on. Benjamin. Benjamin's the son of Jacob. He's the last. The firstborn, Reuben, was a sorry fellow. Benjamin was the father's beloved son, though last, he's first in the father's affection. He's the son of the father's old age. He's the father's favorite. It says the father's life was bound up in the lad.

Oh, what a picture of Jesus Christ Benjamin is. Are you with me? Don't miss this. This is glorious. All of Benjamin's brethren were saved because Benjamin was with them. Did you keep noticing that? You will not see my face, the one on the throne said, except your brother be with you. We will not stand before God Almighty except Christ is with us, in us, for us, our surety. Before the throne, our surety stands. Our names are written on his hand. Our names are written on his hand. That's why we'll be saved. That's the only reason. The only reason.

What a picture, Benjamin is. Jesus Christ, firstborn, yet blessed. He's the first and the last, isn't he? Adam was the first, but the last Adam is the Lord from glory. And life is bound up in Jesus Christ. Life in God, but life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life. If you're gonna be saved, it's gonna be Christ in you, for you, with you. All saved by Christ.

Judah. His name means praise. He's of the tribe, our Lord's earthly tribe. In Matthew 1, verse 2, it begins with the tribe Judah. Christ came from the tribe of Judah. In Genesis 49 is Jacob's prophecy of all his sons. He doesn't say much good about the others. But Judah, he says, is the lawgiver. That's Christ, the one who wrote the law, the one who came to fulfill it. He's the ruler, scepter of righteousness, the scepter of his king. That's the Lord Jesus Christ, reigning and ruling. Read Genesis 49, verse 7.

Jews, the name Jew comes from Judah. All of God's people, which are Jews, get their name from Judah, praise. And what are God's people? Christians. That's our name. We come from Christ. Jews, Judah, praise. It's God's remnant, God's true people come from Judah. Bethlehem, Judah. The city of God, the city of David where the temple is, the house of bread, the house of praise has Judah's name attached to it. The house of God, the house of praise. The city of David, the city of the son of David is the church. City of bread, Christ, the temple is there, that's his church, his people, that's Christ himself.

Shiloh, said the scepter shall not depart from Judah till Shiloh come. Are you with me? What's Shiloh mean? Peace, the prince of peace. I hadn't even got to the surety yet. This is glorious. Shiloh, that's Christ, the prince of peace. We have peace with God through his blood. Assurity. All right, now we're at the story.

Assurity means guarantor. Someone who guarantees everything about you. One who is completely, completely responsible for you. One who has taken the complete Responsibility, meaning if he completes his task, you're complete in him. Assurity is a guarantor, one who guarantees that person for whom he stands, who's responsible for that person.

Hebrews 7 says this, by so much more is Jesus, the Lord Jesus made a surety of a better covenant. All right, let's look at this story, okay? Here's a covenant between the father and the son. This began with a covenant between the father and the son. Jacob, the father Israel, and Judah, his son. Look at verses one through three with me. Genesis 43, verses one through three.

The famine was sore in the land. They were in a land of no bread. That's this earth, isn't it? A land of And it came to pass when they'd eaten up the corn, which they had brought out of Egypt, and there's a whole other story about that. It was corn, chapter 42.

But we got to go on. Their father said unto them, go again, buy us a little food. And Judah spoke. This is a dialogue between, a conversation between The father and one son, Judah. This is what took place. This whole story that was ordered of how they were going to go down and approach this great king on a throne. Judah spake.

And said unto him, the father, said to the father, the man did solemnly protest unto us saying, you shall not see my face except your brother be with you. And as I said, what a picture that is of Benjamin being Christ himself. That we're not gonna stand before God, we're not gonna be accepted except in the beloved, except Christ is with us. But our story is Judah, the surety, okay?

There was a covenant between the father, Jacob, and Judah, his son, a dialogue, a communion in a covenant between the father and the son. No one else spoke up. No one was speaking. And it was all concerning the sons of the father, all of these sons. Their salvation depended upon what took place in this covenant between the father and his son. Are you with me?

The gospel of God. The story of salvation of the fallen sons of God began long before the world began, in a covenant, ordered in all things and... You like that word? That's the root word of surety. God the Father and God the Son, and yes, God the Holy Spirit. No type is perfect, is it? The Holy Spirit was in that covenant. But yet it was ordered in all things and sure, because Christ vowed to be the surety of the everlasting covenant. He vowed to be that surety.

Look at it, verses eight and nine, wouldn't it? Judah said unto Israel, notice who's speaking. He doesn't ask anybody else their opinion. or anybody else's two cents. Not any, not one, not Reuben, not Simeon, not the oldest, not Reuben. Look at verse 37 of chapter 42. Look at the last two verses of chapter 42.

Reuben spake unto his father and said, slay my two sons if I bring him not to thee, that is Benjamin. Deliver him into my hand, I'll bring him to thee again. And Jacob said, my son shall not go down with you. You cannot bring him to me. You will not. I will not give him to you. You cannot be his surety. Why not, Jacob?

Why didn't the Lord allow Reuben to do it? Why did he agree to Judah doing it? Because God said so. Because it's prophesied. The firstborn is not gonna bring him in. Reuben, who represents Adam. And Adam all die. In Christ, made a line. Judah, the line of the tribe of Judah.

That's in Revelation 5, isn't it? They were all wept because none was worthy to open the book. We're not gonna be, if the book isn't open, the name's read and our names are not there, we're gonna perish. And the angel, the steward of grace said, weep not, fear not, this is who's gonna open the book, the lion of the tribe of Judah. Judah said in verse eight to his father, send the lad with me, we will arise and go. that we may live and not die, both we and thou and also in our little one. Everybody's gonna live because of Judah's charitashim.

Did they? Yes, they did. This is Christ, this is what Christ agreed, vowed to do. This is a vow that Judah took and this is a vow the Lord Jesus Christ made with the Father concerning all of his people. Verse nine, I will be surety for him. Not I'll try, not I might, not if they let me, I will. Don't you love that?

Do you ever remember hearing our Lord say those things? He always said that. Whenever God spoke it was I will, isn't it? Because he alone has free will and he worketh all things after the counsel of his will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand.

Aren't you glad? And our Lord in that high priestly prayer I'm gonna bring up at the end of this. All through that book, he said, I will. He begins with, I finished the work. I've glorified you. And in the end, he said, I will they be with me where I am to behold my glory. Oh, isn't that a story? I will be sure to. And of my hands, shout thou. Thou shalt require him. Verse nine, read it with me. If I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, Let me bear the blame forever.

And he went on to say, if we hadn't lingered, I would have already been back by now. Judah, you sure do sound sure. Brothers and sisters, This is not yay and nay. This is not maybe and if and but and contingent on you or whatever. I sure hope and God hopes and we hope and hope, hope, hope. No, no, no. We got a sure hope, a good hope, a certain hope because that hope was in Christ.

And the only reason we call it hope is because we're not there to see him yet. But when we get there, we'll find out. We know now in our heart, we're going to find out for certain, for sure, this thing was in his hands. I was in his hands. And if I'm there, and this is our only hope here, but it's sure. Christ is sure of them.

Now listen, this is, you know, we've looked at this so many times. I've looked at it. I have several messages. I could have grabbed one and just preached it, and it would have preached well. But I didn't. This is branded everywhere. Now it's old. It's old as hell. But you see things you never saw before. Benjamin is not even anywhere around. when the father and the son were talking about him. Where is Benjamin? We don't know. He's not there.

This was, and people, this thing, our names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundations of the world. People hate that. I don't. God's people don't hate that. They love it. Don't they? Names written on the palm of his hand. He became our surety. He vowed to come get us. It's as sure. There was a man who wrote me recently and said, several men that I've been hearing believe in eternal justification.

He said, I don't know what to think about that. What do you think about that? He asked me. And I thought, if you believe God, you have to believe that. You have to believe that. If you believe God is God and ordered all things before the world began, known unto God are all his works from the beginning, that everything is absolutely certain and sure when the moment he purposed it.

He said, I purposed it. I will bring it to pass. I've spoken it. I will do it. It shall surely be done. It's not a no ifs, ands, mays. There's no shadow of a doubt. If God said it, for whom he did foreknow, he did predestinate. Whom he predestinated, he called. All that sounds like it's past tense. It is. It was. in the mind of God.

Oh yes, Christ had to come and justify us by his blood. The Holy Spirit has to come and show us Christ, the gospel of Christ. We have to hear it. We have to repent. We have to believe that it was a sure thing when God said so. Who shall lay anything the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Yes, I believe in eternal justification.

And faith is a result of that. Isn't it? Repentance is a result of that. All of this is a result, not the cause, not the condition. It's the result. God say they will come. They will bow. That's what this story of Joseph said. Joseph said when he was young, he said, you're all going to bow before me. They said, no, we won't. And they hated him. Everyone unto a man hated Joseph. What happened?

What did they do? bowed their head, and just every one of them, if you belong to God, you will bow your knee, and you will confess with your tongue, he is Lord. You don't make him Lord, you'll find out he is. And you'll fear him, and you'll bow before him, you'll believe him, and all your salvation, you understand, is in his hands. And you love to have it so.

Because if he hadn't drawn you like Joseph drew his brother, if he hadn't had mercy on you, you'd be cast into outer darkness. None of these fellows deserve to be saved. They all hated their brother, and so did we. Yes, we did. Don't, brothers and sister, these unsaved relatives of ours and people, it's not that they're not, you know, good, moral, this and that and the other, they hate God. So, no, no, my grandmother, my grandfather, my brother, my son. My son's a good boy. He doesn't hate God. Yes, he does.

Why isn't he worshiping God? Why doesn't he bow to God? Why doesn't he fear God? Why does he use God's name like that? He hates God. If you don't love God, you hate him. If you don't love his salvation, you hate it. Right? If you don't worship God, you don't know God and you hate God. You wish he wasn't on the throne. Is that too strong?

And we'll quit making excuses for people. And we do too. We need to justify God and condemn in ourselves. If we judge ourselves, we won't be judged. If we condemn ourselves, we won't be condemned. Every one of these sons, every single one of them said, we're goners because of what we did to our brother Joseph. And we want to get what we deserve.

Even Judah said that. Now back to the title. of Judah, I assure you. I couldn't help myself. But isn't that so? That's repentance. Turn to Hebrews 2 with me, Hebrews 2 chapter 2. Benjamin's not around. Benjamin has no part. Benjamin has no say. Aren't you glad that salvation, that we have no say in this matter? Aren't you glad?

There's one mediator between God and man. We're gonna see this. In the next chapter, we're going to see that Judah does all the talking to the father on behalf of his brother. All between the father and the son, Judah and Jacob, it's all up to them. It sounds sure, doesn't it? I will, the son said. So the father said, what happened? Jacob say to Judy, say, go, take fruit, take all this. And another message I preached, I went through all that fruit.

Myrrh, take myrrh, take a balm, take a present, take gifts to the one on the throne. Isn't that what Hebrews says? He offered gifts for himself and for others. Myrrh, Christ is the myrrh, Christ is the balm of Gilead, of his fruit. Herein is God glorified that we bear much fruit. How much fruit do you bear?

Oh, come far ashore. He didn't. Double money. Take double money. We've received of the Lord's hand double for all her iniquity. Somebody say amen. I'm having a good time. Hebrews chapter two, look at this, Hebrews two. This is Gloria. This is speaking of Christ, our surety in every respect.

Verse 10, Hebrews 2.10.

It became him, becoming him, Christ, for whom are all things, by whom are all things, and bringing many sons unto glory. For God to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering, like Joseph. Both he that sanctifyeth God and they who are sanctified are all of one who's at Christ, for which cause he, Christ, is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, behold, I and the children which God hath given me.

Didn't Judah say, if I don't bring him back to you, I'll bear the blame forever. If Jesus Christ loses one sheep, he gets the blame forever. You know that? If there's one single person that trusts in him and ends up guilty, ends up cast out, this book is not true. Jesus Christ is not true. The promise is not sure. It was up to you after all. That's not the case. Christ said, behold, I and the children. Are they all here? All here. None is lost, Christ said. Keep reading Hebrews two.

For as much as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death, On the cross, that's the penalty for sin. The soul that sinned will surely die. He died, Christ died. He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death all their lifetime subject to bondage.

And verily he took not on him the nature of angels, took on him the seed of Abraham, the tribe of Judah. Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of his people, to be made sin for them. In that he himself suffered being tempted, he's able to succor to help them that are tempted. Isn't that wonderful? That's Christ our surety.

Go back to the text now. Go back. Do you remember the little story of Philemon right before Hebrews? Let me just read it to you. This is wonderful. Right before the book of Hebrews is a little one chapter of 25 verses, Philemon. If you wanna hear a good gospel message, just look that up.

But Paul represents the Lord Jesus Christ in this story. He was in prison. He was put in bondage. And one time he said, the reason I'm in bondage is for the furtherance of the gospel. That's a picture of Christ. But Paul wrote a letter to Philemon on behalf of his son, Onesimus, a young man who was a rebel and had stolen and run off. And Paul said this, in his letter, just like this book says in God's letter concerning us, Christ concerning us. I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds, which in time past to thee was unprofitable, but now profitable. Wow, he heard the gospel, he repented.

And he said to Philemon, he said, If you count me a partner equal to you, receive him as myself. If he hath wronged thee or owes thee anything, put that on my account. I, Paul, have written it with my own hand. I will repay it. I will do it, what I say. Put that on my account.

That's assurity. Assurity is one who takes complete responsibility, complete responsibility to the salvation, the safety, the debts, the requirements by the law of another. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. Assurance. You can have complete assurance if Christ is your assurity.

You hear me? It's the root word of that word, isn't it? Sure, assurance. This is not insurance. This is assurance. There's a difference. There are those who have a fire escape named Jesus, just in case. No, no, no, no. This is assurance, all based upon him. Nothing to do with you. Benjamin's not around when this was being made. Neither were we. It was all settled before we were born. Ordered in all things and assured. Assurance is based completely, listen to me now, listen. Don't miss this.

You doubt your salvation? You ever doubt your salvation? You ever doubt the child of God? Worry or wonder if God loves you, if Christ died for you, if you belong in the kingdom. You need assurance, don't you? Where do you get assurance? What do you base your assurance on?

Brothers and sisters, it cannot be anything but you. When this story was made, Benjamin wasn't around. They didn't ask Benjamin. Benjamin, we hope you'll accept this on behalf, if you'll let me, you're sure. He did not say that. Uh-uh, he vowed to become Benjamin's sure to bring him back. Benjamin's going to know, and he's not going to be asked anything. He's going to be told. Judah is your surety, Benjamin. This is why You're saved because your elder brother agreed on. Davis, Benjamin, this is why you're gonna be saved someday. It's gonna be completely outside of yourself.

You can have full assurance, brothers and sisters, sure it is Jesus Christ. We can have full assurance if we trust in Christ our salvation is certain for every sinner who looks to Jesus Christ their surety. Shall I say that again? Good. Salvation is certain every sinner who looks to Jesus Christ as their surety. The law says do and live. Doesn't it? The gospel says look. Look to who, to where?

Not within the man that hung on that cross. The surety of the everlasting covenant. Five bleeding wounds, five formerly bleeding wounds he bears. Received on Calvary. They pour effectual prayers. They strongly plead. How strong? Effectual. Eternal. Look and live. Look and live. I was gonna turn to Romans 8 and start reading. And I just quoted a little bit.

But it says this, it says, now if God be for us, who can be against us? If Joseph is for these brothers, he's on the throne. Whatever Joseph says, it goes, doesn't it? If he says live, they live. If he says die, they're gonna die. What happened? They lived. Why? They had a surety. Benjamin said, hold me accountable to the one on the throne. And the one on the throne said, OK. I accept.

I was gonna read, if God be for us, who can be against you? Now he that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, not all human beings, but all his people, all his elect, all the sons of Jacob, all the Jews, one in one. He that delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely give us all things?

You're gonna see this. Chapter 44, look at chapter 44, and I close. I want you to see the Son and surety as our intercessor, okay? Chapter 44, from Genesis 43 on, it's Jacob the father and Judah the son speaking and talking. Judah does most of the speaking.

The only time anybody speaks is his brethren start talking and they're confessing their guilt. They're confessing their sins. They confess to everyone. They confess. They never did this before. They said in the beginning, we're innocent. We're innocent. And now they're all guilty to a man. That's all they can say before the one on the throne is guilty.

And Judah's doing all the talking, John. Judah's doing all the interceding. Judah's doing all the praying. Judah's pleading with the one on the throne, pleading with the father, pleading with the son. It's Judah! Christ is, there's one, are you with me? There's one mediator between God and man, the man! Christ Jesus. Brothers and sisters, He said, if you ask the father anything in my name, he'll hear you. He'll believe you. He'll accept you. You'll be accepted in the blood. That's fact. He's the surety. He's the intercessor. He's the intercessor. No one else speaks except the brethren to confess their sin. Benjamin in this whole story, sister, Benjamin never says one word ever. Melody, Benjamin never says a word. Well, how's he gonna be saved if he doesn't? Because it's not up to him.

How many times have I said that in this message? Should I keep saying it? Yes. Because what the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law, that every mouth may be what? Stopped. All the world become what? Guilty before God. Well, how are we gonna be just? What? The just one. The just one, in him, in him. Look at verse 14, chapter 44.

Judah and his brethren came to Joseph's house. That's where he was, Joseph. And they fell before him on the ground. And Joseph said unto them, what deed is this you have done? Don't you know, I read your thoughts. What have you done? And I do not get into this, but I want to. Judah, verse 16, Judah said, what shall we say unto my Lord? What shall we speak? How shall we clear ourselves?

God hath found out the iniquity of thy servant. We are thy Lord's servant, both we and them, as whom the cup is found. That's another story. The cup in the son's sack, that's Christ. Silver cup. But Judah speaks up. You see, he's talking on behalf of the brethren. And what does he confess? He doesn't confess their innocence, does he? We have an advocate with the Father. Little children, John said, these things I write unto you that you sin not. If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. What does he plead?

Our innocence? Our righteousness? Our mistakes? No, no, no, no, no. They're guilty. But he took our sins. He took our sins in his body on a trip. God made him to be sin, that God might be just and justify, that God might be righteous, that God might both pardon us and convict us and punish us for our sin in the stead of, as a substitute, Jesus Christ was made sin. This is more than a doctrine, it's our salvation.

You have to believe this? Yes. or you don't know why Christ came. If you don't believe that your sins are completely put away by Jesus Christ, not your repentance, not your turning over, not your anything, if you don't believe your sins are completely forgiven in Jesus Christ, you have no hope of salvation, none. None. Because a believer, the sins of a believer are worse than when he was an unbeliever. So what is our hope on them?

The blood of God's Son. So Judah's doing all the speaking. Judah. Verse 18, then Judah came near. You have it? Verse 18, Judah came near unto the one on the throne and said, oh Lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my Lord's ears. Let not that anger burn against thy servant. You're the Lord on the throne.

Do you remember a prayer? It's our salvation, John 17. Father, he lifted up his eyes, Father. And all through that prayer, that prayer is an intercessory prayer for God's people. James said, the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Christ is the man, is the righteousness of God. His prayer is effectual because he's the son of the father. He's the advocate of all of God's people. And everything he said in John 17 was concerning us.

We weren't around when he said that. We had no say. Nobody spoke up. He didn't ask anybody. He pleaded with the Father. He said, I will that they be. On what basis? I've finished the work. Brother Kelly, he started that prayer by saying, I've finished the work. And in the end, he said, will they be with me where I am? How? Why? Because I finished the work. I put away their sins. They're wholly unblameable and reprovable on God's side. I can't preach a better message than this.

I don't know. Can't do it. You can't hear something to give you more assurance than this. Can't do it. As said, Benjamin never spoke a word, he doesn't have to. Judah speaks for him, the surety. Look at verse 32. He says, thy servant became surety for the lad unto my father, Sam. If I bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father forever. Now therefore I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad. Let me be a bondman to my lord and let the lad go and all his brothers.

What happened? They all went free. And I wanted to go and read the rest of it. I'm gonna cut this short. You know what happened when Judah saw, when Joseph, the Lord on the throne, saw Benjamin? When the Lord on the throne heard Judah's intercessory pleading for his brethren, the surety ship of Judah? You know what the Lord on the throne said? Bring these men into my house, every one of them, and sit at my table, and slay, kill the fatted calf, and bring it, it says, bring the drink, bring the robe, bring it all. My sons are here, he's not ashamed, we call him my brethren. It was heard throughout all the land. It said, let's drink, drink largely. Let's eat.

Why? Why were they all saved? Why? Why? Because Judah became sure of death. Why is anybody saved? Why is anybody in heaven? Who are they singing of right now? The surety unto him. that loved us and washed us from our sin in his own blood. Him, he's the one, the surety. Before the throne, our surety stands. And if he stands there, we will too. If you'd look to him. It's a promise from the Father. Isn't that good news? All right, let's sing a closing hymn. Number 51.